Photo Business Plan Workbook by PhotoShelter

TABLE of CONTENTS
5

Introduction

6

Getting Down to Business: 4 Major Questions to Address in 2013

10

Marketing Your Business on Facebook

11

Blogging Your Best in 2013

18

Improving Your SEO Traffic

21

Getting More Work From Your Old Clients

25

Creating a Real Brand for Your Photo Business

28

Managing Your Finances

© 2013 PhotoShelter, Inc
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PhotoShelter, Inc. makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically
disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. The advice and strategies contained herein may not
be suitable for every situation.

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Introduction
If you’ve ever wondered how to run your photo business like a smart business person, you’re not alone. As a sole proprietor, it takes extra effort to step back from the role of artist to think of ways to reach more clients, build your brand, and
grow your bottom line. The 2013 Photo Business Plan Workbook is designed to help you view the things you do every
day as moving parts in your well-oiled photo business machine. Use this guide to learn where to add a little oil, where to
wipe away a little grease, and how to make the time to do it.
Though this guide isn’t meant to teach you everything you need to know about building your business, it can direct you
to the concepts that are key to your workflow as a professional photographer running a business. Throughout the guide
you’ll find a broad range of resources to help you delve deeper into topics ranging from building your brand to filing taxes.
Beyond practical tips, to-do lists for the successful planner, and sidebars chock-full of online resources, you’ll find indepth interviews with photographers as well as business professionals, each offering insights into how to be business
savvy in 2013 and reach more clients than ever before. For example:
•

Jim Patterson, nature and underwater photographer based in California, shares tips to master Facebook and grow
your brand through social media.

•

Texas-based editorial and fine art photographer Allison Smith offers blogging best practices and lessons in consistency, style, and voice.

•

Search Engine Optimization guru and outdoor photographer Jim Goldstein shares his bag of tricks to make your
photo website rank higher on major search engines.

•

Industrial and corporate photographer Martin Vargas of 33PHOTO provides insights to help you leverage your
work to strengthen relationships and get jobs from old clients.

•

Award-winning photojournalist Ben Lowy shares tips to build your brand and explains why building a niche, a
smart social media presence, and a well-designed site and logo can make a huge impact.

•

Arguably most importantly, Matthew T. Whatley, aka the “Tax Ninja,” who has been helping photographers since
2004, offers tips to maneuver through write-offs and understand tax issues that photographers face.

To make this workbook effective, take a few minutes to think first about your goals: revenue, vacations, gear, dream
clients, jobs. Be specific. Need a little structure? Check out this worksheet by Ilise Benun of marketing mentor. This is
the first step in your business plan. With goals to meet throughout the year you will be on your way to measuring your
success. The tips in this guide are aimed to help you create a strategy for reaching your milestones.
Ready? Let’s talk business.

| The 2013 Photo Business Plan Workbook

5

Getting Down to Business:
4 Major Questions to Address in 2013
We want to help you think through key areas to help grow your business
and reach more clients this year. Building your photography business is
a process, which means there is no one-stop-shop formula for success to
“hit the jackpot.” But the good news is that if you plug away in a few major areas, you’ll start to solidify your brand, attract more eyeballs to your
website, and be top-of-mind for potential buyers and clients. Here are
four major questions you should address to help jumpstart your photo
business this year:

1. Who is your audience?
Defining and understanding your audience is crucial to shaping your
business, your products, your brand, and your marketing efforts as whole.
Without clearly defining who you’re targeting, you can’t clearly define
why you’re reaching out to certain folks over others. As a result, your business will lack focus (at best) and look sloppy and out of sync (at worst).

If you plug away
in a few major
areas, you’ll start
to solidify your
brand, attract more
eyeballs to your
website, and be
top-of-mind for
potential buyers
and clients.

For example, if you’re a polar and environmental photographer, your
audience isn’t women’s lifestyle and fashion editors. This may seem obvious, but being able to clearly articulate who you’re targeting (and not
targeting) will help you strategically focus your services and marketing
efforts to appeal to the right group.
What may not be as obvious is the case of the photographer who has
multiple specialties, as many (if not most) do these days. You may do
editorial work during the week but shoot weddings on the weekends
for that extra bump in income. What then? Well, you’ll still want to
clearly define each audience for each specialty you have—and you’ll
want to have a marketing strategy suited for each as well. A one-sizefits-all approach may cause confusion or a feeling among prospective
clients that you’re really not the “expert” at any one thing—or at least
at the thing they care most about. In short, they won’t find you relevant
for their needs.
Truly understanding your target market also gives you several advantages. Most importantly, you know what appeals to them.


6

DO THIS
FF To define your target audience, write out answers to the following questions:
What are their likes and dislikes?
What are their buying habits and seasons?
What kind of photography do they consume and why?
How old are they?
What is their income level?
Where do they live?
What are their hobbies?
Where do they hang out? (online and off)
What are their major needs and pain points?
The last one is especially key. If you’re unaware of your target market’s key pain points and needs, it’s OK to
ask directly. Find a handful of folks in this community—essentially an informal focus group—and ask about
their buying habits, issues they encounter, and more.
FF Think through the services and products you provide. Then brainstorm a list of ways in which those services
and products are relevant to your target audience. How can your business satisfy a need of theirs? How do
your competitors fail to meet them?

2. What is Your Unique Selling Point?
As you get a hold on your audience’s needs, this will help you identify
your unique selling point - or what your business offers that helps you
stand out from the pack and to keep you top of mind. Differentiating
your brand and your services from your competitors can be the ultimate key to getting new business through the door.
So, first you need to make a determination: What is it that you offer
your target customers? Can you clearly state this? Is your unique offering
based on a specialty (e.g. underwater photography) or certain access (e.g.
US military) or skill (e.g. lighting)? Or, is your unique offering based on
the service delivered or tangible product the customer will be purchasing
(e.g. boudoir portrait sessions or photo-wrapped Mini Coopers)?
A good first step to determine your unique selling point is to survey your
competition and determine whether they have service offerings that you
could replicate and then improve upon. Next, if you sell products, analyze
what has sold for you in the past year. Can you pinpoint why they sold
well? What about those products was attractive to buyers? Also, think
about the clients or projects that have been particularly successful. What
about these projects made them so? Focus in on these factors or traits
and make them known to your clients and prospects.

7

DO THIS
FF After you’ve thought through the identity of your target market and how your business can address their needs,
write out a statement that clearly defines your services, products, and audience. Fill in the blanks here:
“For (your target market) who wants / needs (reason to buy your product/service), (your name, business,
product or service) is a (specialty) photographer that provides (your key benefit). Unlike other photographers in this space, my key differentiator is (how you uniquely address the client’s needs).”
This is your positioning statement—it can also be considered your “elevator pitch”—or what you can say
when you get just a few moments to convince a prospect they should hire you for their next project.

3. What’s your marketing plan?
Your potential clients are just as busy as you are, which means you need
a strategy this year to make it easier for them to find and work with you.
Creating a full-scale marketing plan may sound daunting, but sitting
down to flesh out a strategy to reach your target market is key to making marketing a business-as-usual activity instead of an intimidating
task you’d prefer to put off.
We recommend you think about each marketing category (see below)
and consider activities you can do within each and the return that each
activity may produce. When you think about these activities, consider
how people in different parts of the “sales cycle” would react. For example,
you might send a postcard to photo buyers and editors you’ve causally
connected with this past year, but put together a photo book to send your
“top 10” contacts to make a longer lasting impression.

DO THIS
FF Make a list of major marketing categories that you think you can reasonably address and your budget will
allow. Some categories we recommend considering are:
Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)
Direct mail (postcards, books)
Events (trade shows, portfolio reviews)
Email marketing (email newsletters, promotions)
Local advertising (ads in local newspapers, magazines, etc)
In-person visits
FF With the categories you address, create a spreadsheet with some activities you’ll do in each, rough estimates
of the time you think you may spend on them per week, and the associated costs. How can you begin to integrate these marketing efforts into your weekly and daily routines? Prioritize them according to the response
they are likely to produce.

8

4. Is your website as great as you are?
When it comes to your photography business, your website is everything. It’s your greatest marketing tool. It’s your virtual business card, a
reflection of your professionalism, and (should be) a way to easily connect with you or transact with clients who want to license your work or
buy your prints and products.

PhotoShelter’s Certified
Consultants

So as a first step, if you don’t consider your website as the pinnacle tool
of your business, then it’s time to start. Think about your own experience online. As soon as you come to a site that feels stale and out of
date, you’re inclined to click out. To keep your own site fresh, you want
to plan out a series of regular updates—refreshing a portfolio or gallery, a new blog post on your latest shoot, etc. Regularly updating your
website can also help improve your ranking on major search engines,
which rank sites with fresh content favorably.

so they understand the needs of

PhotoShelter works with a cadre of
qualified website consultants who
specialize in photographers’ sites.
Most are photographers themselves,
your clients. And we’ve done our
homework so we can vouch for their
services. Certified Consultants can
help you with anything from working
with our SEO tools to customizing a
streamlined, professional PhotoShelter
website, and everything in between.

To have a competitive and highly functional website this year, here are
a few items your site should have:
• Clear contact information and “about” page
• Well organized portfolio sections or galleries
• E-commerce capabilities (if you sell prints or stock)
• File delivery (so you can send files to clients with your brand)
• Blog that is updated regularly (we recommend at least
once a week)

DO THIS
FF To help inform what part of your site to tackle first, use a tool like Google Analytics to track which content is
most compelling to new visitors and which content people rarely click on.
FF Approach your website from the point of view of a potential buyer. In 2012, we surveyed over 1,000 photo
buyers worldwide who told us features of websites they prefer to see. See page 26 of the 2012 Survey: What
Buyers Want from Photographers and determine if your site hits the mark. If you’re unsure, consider hiring a
website consultant to determine how you can improve your site from a functional and aesthetic standpoint.

Determining the needs of your audience, articulating your unique selling
point, flushing out a marketing plan, and optimizing your website are
the pillars of great photography business. The most important thing to
remember though is that a thriving business doesn’t happen overnight.
As you’ll read from the seasoned photographers in this workbook, smart
planning and research can be just as important as smart execution.


9

Marketing

Your Business on Facebook
Featuring Landscape, Nature, and Underwater Photographer Jim Patterson

Jim Patterson is a landscape, nature, and underwater photographer
based in Santa Cruz, California. His work has been published in the
likes of National Geographic, Popular Photography, and American Photo.
Jim also leads “Sea to Summit” workshops year round in locations like
Death Valley, Yosemite, and Big Sur, where he teaches high-quality
nature and landscape photography to help photographers take their
technical skills to the next level.
Jim uses his Facebook page, Jim Patterson Photography, to market his
photography business, get his name out there, and connect with more
people through his brand. His page has almost 5,000 likes, and any given
post receives hundreds of likes, 15 to 20 comments, plus a sizeable number of shares. But how does he do it? For one, Jim embraces Facebook for
one of it’s most powerful features: a social media platform conducive to Facebook:
photo sharing. And to those worried about the safety of their work, Jim https://www.facebook.com/JimPattersonsays, “If you worry about image theft, you’ll never post anything online.” Photography
Given Facebook’s reputation for inconsistency in terms of service policy,
you must of course weigh your personal tolerance for the potential risks
vs. Facebook’s very powerful marketing features.
Jim told us how he grew his Facebook following this year, took advantage of key features, interacted with his followers, and more. Here are
some concrete tips on what you can do in 2013 to make the platform
work for your photo business.

1. Post Your Photos Directly to Facebook
Ninety percent of Jim’s Facebook posts are of his images. And although
he struggles at times to pick the best ones to share, there is always a
strategy behind his choice. “I like to choose a photo that is directly
connected to my business,” he says. “For example, if I have a workshop
coming up in Death Valley, I’ll post a photo I took there recently and
direct people to my website to learn more.” Jim also likes to share photos he takes on the way to shoots, as well as during to give people a
sense of his day.


10

Jim’s Facebook likes increased significantly this year because he abandoned sharing links to photos on his website. “If you upload an actual photo to your Facebook page, it’s much more appealing,” he says.
“Think of your own News Feed. You’re drawn first to the photos, the
links you see are secondary, you might even ignore them completely.”
With this strategy, Jim typically drives 1,000 visitors to his website per
month and has even received print inquiries directly on his page.

DO THIS
FF When you upload one of your photos (instead of linking), you should still give your followers the opportunity
to visit your site. After you upload the photo, include a short URL with your text (see Jim’s example here).
This link becomes live as soon as you post. You can sign up for a free service like bitly, or use the Google URL
Shortener, that lets you easily shorten URLs and track clicks.
FF Map out a schedule for posting. When you post regularly, people are more inclined to interact with you
through comments, likes, and shares. As a general rule of thumb, try to post in the morning and afternoon
during natural breaks in your day. Also be mindful of break times (breakfast, lunch, dinner) in other time
zones you want to impact.
FF Every Sunday, skim over your Facebook Insights, which you can find in the “Admin” panel of your page. In
the section labeled, “Overview,” make a note of your most popular posts and any themes among them (i.e.
time of day, news worthiness, etc.). This will better inform you of when and what to share, and also the types
of posts that tend to flop.

2. Embrace Facebook’s Page Features
It’s no secret that Facebook is always changing its layout and features, as
well as how it ranks your posts in your followers’ News Feeds. First, do
your best to welcome these changes. Embracing the new features as they
come will ultimately help you reach more people and build your brand.
Jim takes full advantage of features on his page, including the cover image, tabs, promoted posts, and the ability to highlight posts (see below).


11

DO THIS
FF Your cover image is a powerful first impression for those who visit your page, so it should look great. Check
out this blog post, “How to Create a Cover Photo for your Facebook Timeline,” to determine where the elements of a photo you choose will line up on your Facebook cover. Jim used this blog for guidance and chose
an image he thought had a “wow” factor and also represented his business as a nature photographer well. He
subtly added his logo to re-emphasize his brand.
FF For your page’s profile picture, choose
a professional photo of yourself (one
where you look friendly!). “People like
to know they’re interacting with an
actual person,” Jim says. “You want to
be approachable, and having a logo or
symbol for your profile image can feel
impersonal.”
FF Experiment with promoted posts.
When Jim spent $5 to promote this
post (see right), it received 658 likes—
the most he got all year. Also note
that in mid- November 2012, Facebook
rolled out a “Pages Feed” found in
your left sidebar, which features only
promoted posts. So, if you promote a
post, it will appear there whereas it
might be missed, buried or not shown
at all in many of your followers’ regular
News Feeds.


12

3. Encourage Dialogue
When you post, you want to be approachable and encourage interaction. Jim likes to pair his business-focused photos with a question to
get people talking. See this example:

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
• Blog: “Facebook Timeline: 5 New
tools for Your Photo Brand
• Photo Guide: The Photographer’s
Social Media Handbook
• Blog: “The Future of Social Media &
Your Photo Business”
• Marketing basics from Lynda:
“Social media marketing with
Facebook and Twitter”
• Blog: “No One is Going to Your
Facebook Fan Page”
• Blog: “Why You Need to Ditch Your
Personal Facebook Page”
• Blog: “How The New York Times
Does Social Media”

In each post, Jim wants to convey that he’s a reputable nature photographer who shares quality work and is down to earth. “Remember, most
people who like your page are not potential clients and may not even
know a lot about photography—but they do know people who do,” he
says. “This means you need to be very inviting. This encourages wordof-mouth referrals and that can lead to a sale.”


13

Blogging

Your Best in 2013
Featuring Editorial and Fine Art Photographer Allison Smith

Texas-based freelance photographer Allison Smith’s work has appeared
in several glossy publications including The New York Times Magazine,
Elle, and The Wall Street Journal. Her work also hangs in the permanent
collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, and
many private collections.
Allison’s blog, launched in 2005, is a little window onto her work ethic
and personality. It showcases her workflow, her inspirations, and the
images she wants to share (though not necessarily exhibit on her main
site). Allison’s blog is a lesson in the classic tenets of the blogosphere:
be active, have a voice, and self-promote.
We talked to Allison about why she blogs, what she blogs, and how
she promotes her blog. For those of us who get a little overwhelmed by
the well-calculated web presence of the modern business person, take
comfort in Allison’s overall blogging strategy. “I try to keep it from the
heart,” she says.

Website:
http://www.allisonvsmith.com
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Avose

1. The benefits of keeping it from the heart
With the popularity and quick-hit short posts of Twitter and Facebook,
blogging can seem like a daunting task, but the benefit is that you have
the freedom to put your personality on display through the content,
images, and format.
Allison has kept journals most of her life, so starting a blog came naturally. “My blog started as an extension of my journals,” Allison says. Today, her blog is a mix of recent work, “self-assigned” work, her Hipstamatic shots, and images that inspire her. Though Allison doesn’t literally
treat her blog as a diary, she likes to keep the tone and frequency of her
posts (with a two-post per week goal) casual. She says, “I see my blog as
a conversation I am having with friends. I want it to be honest and fun.”


14

DO THIS
FF Follow blogs of other photographers, magazines, and industry professionals you admire. Interact by reblogging their work. Tag those reblogged posts as “inspiration.” Allison has a tagcloud on the right-hand column
of her blog so clients or fans can easily peruse the categories Allison has blogged about. This not only shows
what kind of person Allison is—her likes and dislikes—but can help a prospective client see that she is
actively keeping tabs on their work as well as the industry as a whole. It can also attract new readers who
appreciate the articles and items she essentially curates for them.
FF Decide who it is you’re blogging for. Though you can track the analytics of your blog to see how many people
are seeing your posts, interactions may be minimal. Therefore it’s a good idea to decide who it is you’re writing to—be it a group of friends, family, or clients. This will help you maintain a consistent tone, as well as the
honest, direct writing style that is generally expected from a blog.

2. Knowing what to blog

You might have just gotten back from a long assignment overseas and
your client images can’t be made public yet, but you’re dying to share
what you’ve seen. That’s where the blog comes in. Allison uses her blog to
show off her Hipstamatic images that can be stand-ins for an assignment
she’s just had. Her blog is a place for images that she wants to share but
doesn’t necessarily want representing her body of work. “The blog has
become a home for images that might not make it on my website, ever,
but I still want to share and archive,” she says. “For example, photographs
made with my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app. I am eager to share
them on my blog and Instagram, but not so much on my website.”
Allison’s Hipstamatic series from the Dallas Art Fair:

“Because I am
waiting for my
images to be
published before
sharing on my blog
or website, I share
images taken of me
‘in action.’ It gives
an editor who has
never met me a
sense of my simple
editorial style.”

“Because I am waiting for my images to be published before sharing on
my blog or website, I share images taken of me ‘in action.’ It gives an
editor who has never met me a sense of my simple editorial style,” says
Allison about this post.


15

And, of course, Allison uses her blog to promote whatever she is working on. “I produce an online magazine once a year which requires more
time to produce. I use my blog to promote and sell it. The magazine
posts are generally the most commented on in my blog.”

DO THIS
FF Blog about recent assignments, and post your smartphone photos. Apps such as Hipstamatic and Instagram
have become wildly popular, so even though they won’t be as polished as your other work might be, you are
still engaging in the industry while showing off your eye and passion for the work.
FF Post images that you’ve “self-assigned.” Sometimes it’s necessary to give yourself the task of doing the work
you’d like to be doing. And a blog is the perfect publishing platform for these kinds of “assignments.” Allison
says, “In these lean assignment times I often self-assign, and it can pay off. I stay busy shooting things I am
interested in. Recently NPR Picture Show blog featured some my latest self-assigned blog posts on their blog.”
FF Blog what’s inspiring you. The possibilities are endless. Allison says her blog posts range from something, “as
simple as a song that’s helping me through an edit” to her “passion for book collecting” to “an homage to one
of my favorite photographers, William Eggleston.”
FF Consider how your images might be used. It’s the age of the Internet, which means your images can be shared
despite your best attempts at protecting them. Allison says, “It won’t stop me from sharing. I size my images
small and keep up with copyrights. As a reminder I add ©Allison V. Smith to all the photographs I post.”

3. Promoting your blog

A blog, like any publishing platform, needs an audience. Allison’s audience may grow organically, but don’t mistake that to mean she is passive with her marketing. After each post, Allison tweets and shares it on
LinkedIn. She watches her analytics, which she can access through her
blog’s back end, to see how her posts are doing and which get more hits
than others. And promotion works both ways. For example, Allison says


16

that after reading a blog she wrote, the Daily Beast showcased her current
photography show at the Marfa Contemporary on their Tumblr page.

DO THIS
FF Promote each blog post you write on your other social media platforms - and be engaging. Give a short teaser
to your blog that will entice people to click through and read.
FF Make note of which posts are most popular so that you can begin to focus your posts for optimal traffic.
FF Determine what role your blog plays in your overall marketing so that you can best utilize using other social
media platforms in tandem.

• Photo Guide: The Photography Blog
Handbook
• Blog: “5 Reasons Blogging is Crucial
for Good SEO”
• Blog: “Using Your Blog to Attract
Your Ideal Client”
• Blog: “9 Ways To Blog More In
Less Time”
• Wordpress PhotoShelter plugin

photo credit: Allison Smith

• Graph Paper Press PhotoShelter
plugin


17

Improving

Your SEO Traffic

Featuring Outdoor and Nature Photographer Jim Goldstein

Jim Goldstein, a California-based outdoor and nature photographer,
has been a professional photographer for over a decade. Jim teaches
workshops, has an e-book on creating high-impact images, and writes
about the ins and outs of photography.
By day a photographer, by night (or mid-afternoon) Jim is a web marketer and strategist. This is why we asked him to give us some pointers
for photographers to boost their SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
to help you get recognized by major search engines, and ultimately by
potential clients.

1. Know your brand
The first step to tackling SEO is knowing your brand, or what the
core focus of your business is going to be. “If you have a good grasp
of your brand, then you’ll have a better idea of key terms and phrases
you’re going to use for optimization going forward,” Jim says. Because
SEO has to do with being found online, the more you know what you
offer—your specialty, your services, and products—the more you will
come to understand what keywords to associate with your business and
what people will be typing in Google when they are looking for images
like yours.
So if you haven’t been thinking about SEO, how do you know the
terms or words someone is using when they search for images like
yours? “It’s a learning process,” says Jim. “Few people are able to know
right away. It’s like a five-year-old what they want to be when they
grow up. It’s essentially, trial and error.

Website:
http://www.jmg-galleries.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/jmggalleries
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/jimgoldstein

DO THIS
FF Write out a brand statement (who you are, what kind of work you do, and what your specialty is within the
market). An important part of any business is its brand. If you haven’t done it yet, take a step back to your
positioning statement (see the section in this guide called “4 major questions to address in 2013”) and then
expand upon it making a list of key phrases that describe your brand.


18

FF After you list keywords and phrases that you think someone would use when trying to find work like yours,
expand the list to include synonyms of those words and phrases with a similar meaning. To help you with
this, you can use Google’s useful keyword generator, which lets you type in a word and see other common
alternatives. Type in a word or phrase, enter your website name and the market category, and the generator
will give you a list of commonly searched phrases, how often they are searched for globally as well as locally,
and how much “competition” that phrase has.
FF Peruse other photo blogs or websites similar to yours, then Google them using phrases you think they would
“pop” for. See where they rank (how high up on the search they appear). Check out how that photographer
has labeled his or her images, what the blog titles say,and take note of patterns. Though Jim says this is by no
means an exact science, there are a few tools you can use to get a handle on someone’s SEO strategy: Compete.com and Seomoz.org are two that show your how your competitors stack up.

2. Remember, everything you do is SEO
The good news is, everything you do online contributes to your SEO
efforts, including blogging. Jim posts on his blog about once a week
and has trained himself to write each post with SEO in mind.


“People are contributing to their search-engine rankings whether they
think they are or not,” Jim says. “Inaction is essentially action, as backwards as that sounds.” By not posting often, and not adding keywords
to images, you’re sending a message to Google that your content is old,
which means that you will be hard to find online. This reflects poorly
on your business and can even be a turnoff for clients.

• Blog: “What Is Anchor Text and

When Jim posts images on his blog, creates his blog titles and descriptions, and promotes the links through social media, he reiterates the
terms he identifies as core to describing his business. He says, “If you
educate yourself, then almost every marketing effort can be connected
to SEO. By adding metadata to your photos, publishing work online,
and having text around it, or even just linking back to your site with the
proper wording, that is helpful for SEO. If you have it on your mind it
will appear in everything that you do. I think that’s the best practice.”

• Blog: “5 Reasons Blogging is Crucial
for Good SEO”

Why Should You Care?”
• A Brand New SEO Workbook and
Bootcamp
• SEO for Photographers Bootcamp
& Guide
• Google’s official blog
• Majesticseo.com
• www.reelseo.com
• Searchengineland
• Marketing Grader
• PhotoShelter SEO grader
• PhotoMetadata.org: “Meta 101”


19

DO THIS
FF Include as much metadata and description as you can to every image you publish online. Be consistent with
your tagging. If you choose to forgo all image descriptions, metadata and smart blog titles, it can negatively
impact your chances of being found. (Metadata is information – data – stored within a digital image file. If
you want to learn more about embedding metadata, check out these tutorials for different image software).
Not only does this help SEO, it can help protect your images from theft and misuse.
FF Remember that “inaction is action.” Be active with your blog and website updates so that Google sees your content
as fresh. Regularly update your website and social media platforms. By ignoring them you’re telling the search
engines you’re not relevant—the opposite effect you’re looking for to help improve where you rank on Google.

3. Update, update, update
Just when you think you’ve got the keywords and tagging down, it’s
time to reevaluate. “SEO is a moving target, things are always changing,
and no company stays the same. The market is always changing, too,”
says Jim. “You might have to revolutionize your approach. Don’t become complacent; stay consistent.” That’s why Jim says that ideally you
should be spending one hour a week on your SEO efforts. Jim spends
most of this time on his blog, which is what he links everything back to.

DO THIS
FF Google yourself and refine the keywords and phrases as your business and services or the language your
specialty and industry uses changes.
FF Work on improving your search-engine rankings for at least one hour a week. Whether it’s updating code,
blogging, or adding description to your image gallery.

photo credit: Jim Goldstein

20

Getting

More Work From YOUR Old Clients
Featuring 33PHOTO’s Industrial and Corporate Photographer, Martin Vargas

Martin Vargas is an industrial and corporate photographer who runs
a visual communications company called 33PHOTO. He works
throughout the year with some of Mexico’s biggest corporations to
document how they operate and innovate within their industries. Clients continue to work with 33PHOTO year after year because they
know Martin’s crew has the work ethic, equipment, and expertise to
meet any and all environmental challenges they encounter.
In 2012, approximately 80 percent of Martin’s clients were repeat clients, a handful of which he’s worked with for over 15 years. So why do
they keep coming back? We asked Martin what he does to get more
work from old clients.

1. Do your research.
“Researching and keeping tabs on your old clients is essential for getting
new work,” Martin says. For example, this year, Martin signed up for every newsletter and promotion from his corporate clients. Skimming the
emails every day, he read that a previous client had recently appointed a
new CEO. A lightbulb went off. This new CEO would need headshots
to hand off to the press—and that was a service Martin could deliver.

Website:
http://33photo.com/33/
Twitter:
@33photo

Martin was proactive and pitched the idea, and the client was happy to
hire him for the job. Not only did Martin get more work, but he impressed
the client with his initiative to closely follow their business and reach out.

DO THIS
FF Sign up for your clients’ newsletters or blog RSS feeds and carve out 15 minutes to skim the updates every
day. Don’t delete these without reading—you signed up for a reason!
FF Create Google Alerts for your clients to keep track of when and where they’re mentioned online.
FF Do research on your clients’ industries. As you learn more, ask yourself, “Is there an opportunity for my services to help improve the way they do business?” If the answer is yes, follow up and pitch your idea.


21

FF Use information you find about a client, for example a new product they’ve launched or big hire they made,
as an excuse to reconnect. Referencing these items lets the client know you are interested and invested in a
long-term relationship.

2. Remember to actively market to old clients.
Even with clients you’ve known for years, you shouldn’t be too casual or
assumptive with your marketing efforts (e.g. think that they’ll remember
to reach out to you when they have a new job). Instead, implement a marketing strategy where you routinely (though no more than once a month)
let old clients know about the things you’re up to. In 2012, Martin made a
deliberate decision to send old clients well-curated portfolios with updates
on 33PHOTO’s new work that was relevant to the clients’ business needs.
Case in point: this year Martin decided to reach out to an older client—a luxury department store in Mexico—he hadn’t heard from in
over two years. Determined to reconnect, he put together a portfolio
that included work from their previous project together, plus additional
images which captured the look and feel they wanted to achieve for
the client moving forward. He curated and delivered a portfolio online,
and the client responded immediately saying, “This is perfect timing,
this is exactly what we’re looking for.” Martin got the job.

Implement a
marketing strategy
where you routinely
let old clients know
about the things
you’re up to.

DO THIS
FF Keep track of your interactions with clients. Use a spreadsheet of all clients you’ve worked with and add a
column for the date of your last assignment with them. Also add a column for all the dates you’ve “checkedin” since working together.
FF Before reconnecting with an old client, ask yourself critical questions like, “What new work would appeal to
them today and why?”
FF Get creative with how you follow up with old clients. Sending a portfolio is not the only way. Also consider
postcards, social media messages, photo books, tear sheets, etc. What kind of marketing will highlight your
services the best and why?
FF Don’t be discouraged if you haven’t heard back from a client in years. As Martin will tell you, getting new
work from old clients often comes down to good timing. Don’t take a client’s silence to mean they don’t want
to work with you or are uninterested in your services. Be politely persistent.
FF When you reconnect, remind the client (if necessary) how you worked together in the past and even remind them
where you’re located. They might be juggling just as many moving pieces and working relationships as you are.


22

3. Find like-minded clients, because those
are the ones who will come back for more.
Martin says a large reason he often gets new work from old clients is because his team works with folks who share their values. At 33PHOTO,
they are passionate about what they do, are service-oriented, take pride in
their work, and are determined to “take away the headache” from clients.
Martin argues that finding clients who share your values is key to keeping
clients in the future. “You don’t have friends who have different values than
you, so why should you have clients who do?” Martin says the way to find
these clients takes practice. “It’s a lot like dating,” he says. “Finding clients
who share your values is more of an art form and requires a level of ‘feeling
them out’ and asking yourself key questions after each interaction.”

DO THIS
FF Make a list of value-based adjectives that describe your business (ie: honest, client-centered, creative, responsive, service-oriented, etc).
FF Make a similar list of adjectives that describe your ideal client (ie: honest, responsive, communicative, etc).
FF Think about questions to ask yourself when you meet a client for the first time to help you assess compatibility in work styles and values. Questions like:
Can they clearly communicate their needs?
Are they transparent and open about their timelines, expectations, and budget?
Do you they share potential pitfalls or challenges with the project?
Do they encourage in-person meetings?
FF Assess how clients answer those questions above. If you feel like a client is a good fit for your business and
you click professionally, this will help your chances of getting work from that client again.

photo credit: Martin Vargas

23

Beating the competition:

Additional RESOURCES

In 2012, one of 33PHOTO’s greatest challenges working with old

• Calculate your cost of doing

clients was navigating the new wave of photographers charg-

business: NPPA

ing $100/day to do the “same work.” “At times, old clients would
call and ask why we’re overcharging them, which was difficult

• Webcast: Newsweek’s Senior

because we’ve always prided ourselves on being a reasonably

International Photo Editor Jamie

priced service,” Martin says. “Regardless of the lower rates from

Wellford: What photo editors want

competition, we’ve been able to keep our clients because we can
clearly articulate the value we provide.”

• Photography Pricing: How To Find a
Reasonable Rate

Here’s a list of value-based items Martin asks clients to consider
when they question his price (in addition to line items that add
to the cost of doing business):
•

Creativity, passion, commitment

•

Expert guidance in technology and equipment usage

•

A strong knowledge of the client’s business and the
industry it operates in

•

Ability to tackle any problem and alleviate headaches instead of creating them

•

Ability to take a project on and control it from day one

•

Ability to problem solve and get results in little time

•

Hard work and discipline

•

Streamlined full Double Negative (DNG) workflow,
digital delivery, and backup

•

Video capabilities

•

A fully bilingual team

•

Up-to-date passports and visas for all photographers and their assistants

•

Local and cultural knowledge

•

A fun team to work with


24

Creating

a Real Brand for YOUR Photo Business
Featuring Photojournalist Ben Lowy

Ben Lowy is an award-winning conflict and feature photographer
based in New York City. He’s covered major stories worldwide, including the Iraq and Afghan wars. Several of his images were chosen by
PDN as among the most iconic of the 21st century. Hipstamatic has
also created the “Ben Lowy” lens after he used the app to document life
in Afghanistan and was featured by The New York Times.
But alongside his award-winning photography is a distinct business brand
that helps him reach more clients. What is Ben’s brand and what characteristics define his business? Ben is considered a sophisticated photojournalist who takes advantage of social media and is highly mobile. He
embraces iPhone photography and filters including Hipstamatic (not just
his own lens!) and Instagram, where he currently has over 20,000 followers.
The design of his site and his logo also fall in sync with his brand and his
Website:
love for innovation and technology—it’s sleek, clean, and modern.

http://benlowy.com/

Branding is a concept that can be elusive to many, but it’s a key element
that touches every aspect of your business. A brand is more than your
logo or the color scheme you choose for your website. Your brand is
evident through your niche, your technical style, your website, the way
you interact with your clients, and much more. The good news is that,
as an artist, you already have a distinct style and point of view—which
are essentially what make up your brand. You just need to consciously
identify the characteristics of that style and make sure they are apparent throughout your marketing.

Instagram:
http://instagram.com/benlowy
Tumblr:
http://www.benlowy.com/#/tumblr-blog

Here are three tips to build your photo brand in 2013:

1. Focus on a niche.
When you develop your brand, you develop the identity of your business. Are you a high-end fashion photographer known for your impeccable client service? Are you an edgy wedding photographer who
shoots only alternative couples? “The more focused your specialty is,
the more effectively you can communicate your product, services, and
values—in essence, your brand—to potential clients,” Ben points out.


25

Ben also says that identifying your target audience—knowing who and
where these clients are—is key to establishing a brand that resonates.
“Know who you’re talking to and think through ways your business can appeal to them and why. You don’t want to offer what everyone else does; you
want to offer a unique experience and service,” he says. Whatever “makes
you special” is what defines your brand and ultimately your entire business.

DO THIS
FF To help better identify your target audience, ask yourself, who is your ideal client? Write down the characteristics that define your target audience including: age, demographics, socioeconomic status, and even common shared hobbies among that community.
FF List out your clients’ needs and pain points one by one. Determine how your services will address those needs.
FF Look at your website. Do the photos in your online portfolios show off strong work in a specific field, or are
your images all over the map? Edit to show only the work you want your target client to see.

2. Dedicate time to social media.
With over 20,000 followers on Instagram and a Tumblr blog he updates daily, Ben realized very early on that as he grew a steady following,
he would need to think about how to present his work. This meant he
would have to think carefully about the tone of his posts, the photos he
chose, the frequency he would share content, and more. Consistency in
these areas can often help define and strengthen a brand.
When sharing his work through social media, Ben makes an important
distinction between his social media followers and potential clients:
“The interesting thing about social media is that many of your followers are not future clients or even in the industry, they’re just fans. This
means the work you should feature should be interesting, not necessarily always a photo that is technically your best shot.”

DO THIS
FF Get a hold of who your social media followers are. Each day, click on a handful of followers’ profiles to get a
better sense of these folks—their interests, their careers, where they live, etc. Keep a log of any trends you
notice. An understanding of your followers will guide your on which content will be most engaging.
FF Update regularly. We recommend posting on Facebook at least once a day and tweeting at least twice a day.
If you rarely post, you don’t give followers a reason to come back and interact with your work, which defeats
the purpose of social media altogether.


26

FF If you plan to share many photos, think about which platforms (i.e.: Facebook, Instagram, Google+) are best
for photo sharing and will display nicely on iPhones and iPads.
FF If you choose to be present on multiple social media platforms, aim to have the same username on each. We
recommend using your full name. The consistency will help reinforce your brand across your online presence.

3. Your logo isn’t everything,
but it does matter.
A well-designed logo is only part of your brand, but it can make an impact on potential clients. When visiting your website, it can be one of the
first creative pieces someone sees. As the symbol of your brand, your logo
will also touch all aspects of your business including your website, your
Facebook page, your newsletter, your blog, and even your final invoice.
For example, Ben’s logo is bold and modern and creatively joins the first
letters of his first and last name. The design combines grey and orange
in a standard Helvetica font that appears consistently across different
browsers. The logo is sleek and clean, which complements his mobilefriendly workflow and forward-thinking photo business. Ben told us that
his logo, which his wife helped design, came as inspiration from one of
his favorite comic book series characters, Tony Stark from Iron Man.

Additional RESOURCES
• Blog: “Special Offer: 10
Business Branding Secrets for
Photographers”
• Blog: “Facebook Timeline: 5 New
Tools For Your Photo Brand”
• Brand Designers: MyEmma blog
• Branding Firm: Seebrandgo

DO THIS
FF Make a list of the brands whose logos you like and list out the characteristics that appeal to you and why.
Since there is often a fine line between you, your business, and your personality, find styles and designs you
gravitate toward and think through how you can reflect certain elements into your own branding.
FF Brainstorm the concept of your logo. Ask yourself questions like: Does it represent your business? Does it
stand out? Can it work in black and white or on different colored backgrounds? Does it look too much like
other logos? Can it still work in five years?
FF Decide the budget for your logo design. If you can’t hire a professional designer to do the job, is there a
friend with basic design skills you can approach? Ask your social media networks if there’s anyone they
can recommend.


27

Managing

Your Finances

Featuring Matthew T. Whatley, aka the “Tax Ninja”

The Tax Ninja, aka Matthew T. Whatley, has been helping photographers
and other small business owners in the arts manage their finances since
2004. The Tax Ninja is very well versed in the issues photographers encounter when it comes to write-offs and income declaration.
Matthew chatted with us about common tax mistakes professional photographers make, how they can prep now to save money later, and when
to invest in new gear. According to Matthew, becoming a tax ninja isn’t all
that hard: “It’s not a question of teaching somebody, it’s a matter getting
them to actually do it and change their habits. The more people participate
in the organization of their own data and the preparation of their tax returns, the more they learn how things work.”

1. First, get organized.
The first step in becoming a tax ninja yourself is getting organized. Save
receipts and keep accurate records of your expenses (and above all, schedule time to do it). For those in the U.S., the easiest thing to do, says Mat- Website:
thew, is to open a separate business account. Use a credit card associated http://www.taxninja.com/
with that account for every expense. Now is the time to really assess your
business. What are your expenses? What are your tools? What gear do you
have, and what do you need? Where is your office (in the kitchen or local
coffee shop), and how are you getting there?

DO THIS
FF Open a business account (separate bank account, separate credit card). Use the bank card or credit card for
any and all business-related expenses. This way keeping track of your expenditures will be greatly simplified.
“So that you can tell us,” says Matthew, “if you spent $3.95 at Walgreens and whether you purchased paper
clips for your business or a couple of sodas. You won’t miss any of the minor details.”
FF Keep a mileage log in your car (looking back through your calendar or email at the very least can help figure
out where you went and why). “Unless you use a vehicle 100 percent for business, you’re not going to be able
to write off all the costs of the vehicle. You’re going to have a personal versus business amount of write-off,”
says Matthew. So when you’re heading to a job, start counting.


28

FF Keep track of the details: It sounds simple, but be aware of exactly how much you’re making and how much
you’re spending—even if it’s paper clips and envelopes. “The sum total of all the little things are usually
what saves you,” says Matthew. “That’s where you get 10 to 20 percent tax savings out of your preparation.”

2. Know your write-offs.
This is what stumps photographers the most. But figuring out what
you can and can’t write off can be as simple as reviewing an itemized
tax form. If you want a little help, check out the Tax Ninja’s form. “The
general rule is, if it’s ordinary and necessary for your business and the
generation of its income, it can become a write-off.”

DO THIS
FF Write off all meals on a business trip when you travel over 50 miles from home.
FF Only write off meals that directly relate to business—schmoozing clients or taking a client to lunch.
FF Write off the correct percentage of your home for an at-home office. If you keep a room with no personal use
items (your DVD collection or that NordicTrack you still need to offload) then you can write-off the proportion of your business use of your home. If it’s a quarter of your living space then you can deduct a quarter of
the rent...and the utilities, and the cleaning bills, and your Internet, trash collection, etc.
FF Combine work and play. Are you going on vacation but intend to build your portfolio of stock images by
taking pictures each day? That could make it a write-offable trip. “An example of that is a food blog,” says
Matthew. You photograph and blog about everything you eat and drink. Or, maybe you’re learning cinematography by reading an industry magazine or watching an online tutorial you had to pay for. Yep, write that off.
As Matthew says, as a general rule, “Think in advance how you’re going to make it an expense.”

3. Educate yourself, and then get someone to
do it for you.
Know how best to file—should you be an LLC or a sole proprietor? Most
photographers, says Matthew, don’t need to incorporate (become an S Corp
or LLC). There’s no requirement to incorporate to start writing things off.
Matthew says that taking out business insurance for $300 will be a more
reasonable investment for most photographers than creating an LLC.
Know what sales tax you should be paying as well as what kind of
license your city requires. If you’re delivering “tangible goods” (a print,
say), then you probably have to charge sales tax. Make sure you have a
local license to collect tax, otherwise you could get slapped with a fine.


29

DO THIS
FF If you’re completely self-employed, file on a quarterly basis so that you can accurately pay your estimated
taxes. “If you don’t pay quarterly, you have to pay a penalty for failing to pay quarterly, which is two percent
of the tax due.”
FF Find an accountant. If this all sounds daunting, no need to fret. “If someone is afraid of doing something,
they should have someone do it for them,” says Matthew. Start by asking friends or searching online at
peer-reviewed sites (Angie’s List, Yelp.com). When you find someone who looks good, ask how long they’ve
been in business, how much they know about the business of photography, and how much they charge.
This can vary quite a bit.
FF Read and become familiar with a Schedule C, which lists deductible items.
FF Invest in gear wisely. Matthew says that often photographers get “gear happy” and buy more than their business really needs. Sometimes, depending on the size and scope of your business, renting gear and writing it
off at the end of the year is a far better strategy. “If you’re making $50k in year one but next year you plan on
making $100k, you should probably wait to purchase your gear until next year simply because you’re going
to be in a higher tax bracket,” he says. Then when your business grows and suddenly you need to write off
large ticket items, you can buy that $10k lens knowing you’re satisfying your business and tax needs at once.
And you can invoice for the rental of the gear, mark it up, and make some money. Says Matthew, “Knowing
when to spend your money is one crucial factor.”

4. Build contracts.
“The most important thing to deal with in a contract is getting paid:
who’s supposed to pay, when they’re supposed to pay you, and how much.
And, having some kind of penalty associated with not paying you,” says
Matthew. So build “teeth” into your contracts. What does that mean? It
can mean that when you deliver a contract to potential clients, somewhere in there it states the legal ramifications of nonpayment, including
how legal fees will be reimbursed if you need to go down that road. It
could also mean that you write into your contract how much the clients
agree to pay in late fees if they don’t pay on time. Make sure to define
what services you’re performing—and avoid “scope-creep,” which is a
client asking for more and more without paying extra.

“The most important
thing to deal with in
a contract is getting
paid: who’s supposed
to pay, when they’re
supposed to pay you,
and how much.”

If you’re doing the hiring and paying a subcontractor more than $600 a
year, know that you have to file a W-9. Make sure your subcontractors
know this before they start working for you. They may think that they are
working “under the table” and won’t be taxed, but you could be left with
a serious fine if you get audited by the IRS or state or local tax authority.


30

DO THIS
FF Learn or have someone help you build a contract with “teeth.” Your best bet is to have a lawyer help create a
“boilerplate” contract for you that you can then customize for each new client. If you’re interested in learning
industry standards for pricing, copyright, and licensing, the American Society of Media Photographers has
some great resources.
FF Ask for example contracts your photographer friends have used and highlight sections that are common
among them. You can also find examples of contracts by searching online.
FF Find out from the start—i.e. before hiring—whether you’ll need to consider your assistants as subcontractors,
independent contractors, or employees. If you have someone working for you every day, all day, and aren’t
claiming them as an employee, you might be in for a nasty fine.

SPECIAL OFFER


Kick off 2013 with a free 30-day PhotoShelter trial and build a

• Blog: “Should Photographers

stronger photography website today. Just enter 2013BIZPLAN

Incorporate? Here’s How To Tell.”

when you visit photoshelter.com/signup. Our client services
team is available M-F, 9-6pm ET if you have any questions. Call
212.206.0808 or shoot us an email at support@photoshelter.com

• Best Business Practices for
Photographers by John Harrington
• American Photographic Artists:
Resources
• Copyright Alliance Education
Foundation curriculum
• Business and legal FAQs for
photographers from the American
Society of Media Photographers
• Pricing guides from ASMP
• mint.com
• Quickbooksonline
• Freshbooks
• taxninja.com


31

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